Sash construction



June 19, 1956 T. HAUCK SASH CONSTRUCTION Filed March 16, 1953 1NVENTORTheodore Hauck/ BY Mm ATTO United States Fatent "O SASH CONSTRUCTIONTheodore Hauck, Bellmore, N. Y., assignor to General Bronze Corporation,Garden City, N. Y.

Application March 16, 1953, Serial No. 342,471

9 Claims. (Cl. 20-52) This invention relates to a sash and weathersealing construction for metallic windows particularly of the extrudedaluminum type.

An object of the invention resides in the combination of a sash rail andweather sealing member that are so constructed and related that aneffective weather seal will be provided throughout the length of therail and which will be protected against distortion and the accumulationof foreign matter such as rain, snow or ice between the weather sealingmember and the rail.

The matter of weather sealing windows, especially those of the typewherein there are relative sliding movements between the sash and theframe, would seem to be relatively simple but actually it is an everexisting problem as attested to by the numerous patents that have beengranted on inventions directed to the solving of the problem. Theproblem exists because of the need to provide a tight seal between thesash and the frame which will be effective under all conditions ofweather and all wind pressures and quick changes of pressures and yetwill permit the easy operation of the sash in the frame.

The present invention, taking these two factors into consideration,provides an effective weather seal which is protected againstinoperativeness under all weather conditions and which will permit theeasy sliding of the sash from one position to another.

Further, the weather strip and rail are so intercon- 2' nected that thestrip need not be secured to the rail by screws or other equivalentmeans, which results in a strip that while effectively connected to therail has, nevertheless, a sliding, floating or adjusting movement on therail.

With the above stated and other objects, such as will appear as thedescription herein progresses, the invention resides in the associationof new and novel elements recited in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawing:

Figure l .is an elevation of a window, partly broken away, illustratingthe position of the weather sealing members on horizontally slidablesashes,

Figure 2 is a section, enlarged, on line 2-2 of Figure l; and

Figure 3-is an enlarged view of a portion of a weather sealing member.

In the drawing the window frame is indicated by the reference characterF and the sashes by the characters S and S-1, the sashes beinghorizontally slidable in the frame. The frame F, illustrated, isprovided with flanges 10 and 12 which, with the parting bead 14, providechannels 16 and 18 for the reception of the sashes.

The upper and lower horizontal rails of the sashes slide in the channels16 and 18 of the header and of the sill of the frame as they are movedhorizontally. The side rails of the sashes S and 8-1 enter and arewithdrawn from the corresponding channels of the vertical side membersof the window frame. Thus the weather sealing members are subjected tothe action of different types ice of forces in normal window operations,one of the forces being developed by the sliding of the sashes in thehorizontal channels 16 and 18 and another by the entry into andwithdrawal of the side rails of the sashes into and from thecorresponding vertical channels of the frame.

The horizontal and vertical sash rails, one of which is indicated by thereference character R, are Preferably of extruded aluminum, and areadapted to enter into and slide within the channels 16 and 18, betweenribs 20 that extend the lengths of the frame members.

Each sash rail R is preferably substantially U-shaped in cross-section,comprising a base member 22 and side flanges 24 which are substantiallycoextensive.

Each of the flanges 24 is provided with depressed seats or grooves 26that are substantially coextensive, longitudinally, with the sash rail.

The sash rails carry weather sealing members designated, generally, byreference character WS. Each of these members is trough-like in form andis generally U-shaped in cross-section, and is substantially coextensivelongitudinally with the sash rail. These weather sealing members are,preferably, of stainless steel and are resilient.

The sealing members WS embrace the base 22 and the flanges 24 of thesash rail. The base 28 of the sealing member WS is secured, if desired,to the face of the sash rail R by suitable means, such as screws 30,adjacent the ends of the rail which screws may also be used to securethe rail ends together. When so secured the intermediate portion of theweather sealing member may be free so that upon movements of the sash itwill adjust itself to the unevenness in the frame. The screws may, attimes, be dispensed with. The side walls 32 of the members WS are joinedto the base 28 by connector portions 34 that join the base 28 on linesspaced beyond and away from the rail R, as at 36. Because theseconnector portions 34 diverge or flare from the base 28 the side walls32 are spaced from the sash rail member as shown at 38 in Figure 3.

The outer portions of the side Walls 32 converge, as at 40, andterminate in shoe members 42 that are forced into contact with the basesof the grooves 26 in the sash by the inherent resiliency of the sealingmembers. These shoe members 42 have their ends spaced from the end wallsof the grooves at all times thus providing spaces 44 and 46 which willinsure freedom of unhampered flexing of the sealing members WS and atthe same time will insure that the shoe members will remain insurfaceto-surface contact with the bases of the grooves in the sashrails.

When the weather sealing members WS are in the position illustrated inthe drawings the side walls 32 will be in forced contact with the ribs20 on the frame F, the contact being the result of the resiliency of theweather sealing member and the fact that, normally, the distance betweenthe ribs 20 is less than the distance between the outer faces of thewalls 32. The compression of these walls toward each other will forcethe shoes 42 into surface-to-surface contact with the bases of thegrooves 26.

When wind pressure is applied to the sash one of the walls 32 will haverelative movement toward the face of the adjacent sash rail while theother wall 32 will move away from the face of the adjacent sash rail.The movement of the former will be possible because the shoe 42 is freeto move in the groove 26 and the connector portion 34 tends to remainsubstantially parallel to the wall 32. Because of this action the wall32 will maintain a surface-to-surface contact with the adjacent face ofthe rib 20 and the shoes 42 will tend to maintain surfaceto-surfacecontact with the walls of the grooves at 26.

The inclination of the connector members 34 facilitates the entry of thevertical rails of the sashes into the channels of the vertical framemembers by a camming action, the length of the base member 28 being lessthan the distance between the opposed faces of the ribs 20.

While I have illustrated in Figure 2. the construction of the horizontalrails of a sash and the associated weather sealing member, it is to beunderstood that the vertical side rails of the sash may be of the sameconstruction and each may carry a weather sealing member such asillustrated in Figure 2. Various details of the construction may be madewithout departing from the scope of the appended claims as will beobvious to one skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

1. In a window construction comprising a frame having channels thereinand a sash having upper and lower horizontal and side vertical railsslidablc in said channels, one of said rails having a base portion andspaced flanges extending therefrom, a grooved seat formed in andextending longitudinally of a face of each of said flanges forsubstantially the full length thereof, a weather sealing membergenerally U-shaped in cross section having'its bight portion embracingthe outer face of said base portion of said last mentioned rail andhaving resilient bearing portions for slidable contact with said frameand spaced from the outer faces of said rail flanges for substantiallythe full length thereof, connector portions between said bearingportions and said bight portion converging toward the latter, the saidbearing portions having extensions converging toward said grooved seatsand shoe members carried by said extensions and freely mounted in saidseats for movements transversely thereof and transversely of said lastmentioned rail.

2. in a sliding window construction including a sash having upper andlower horizontal and vertical side rails having inner and outer faces,the improvement which comprises grooved seats in the inner and outerfaces of one of said rails and extending longitudinally thereof and forsubstantially the full lengths thereof, a resilient weather sealingmember substantially U-shaped in crosssection embracing said lastmentioned rail and having shoe portions at the ends thereof slidablyengaged in said seats.

3. The combination of elements recited in claim 2 in which said sealingmember includes a base portion and side walls, the latter being normallyspaced from the adjacent faces of said last mentioned rail member.

4. The combination of elements recited in claim 3 wherein the side wallsof said sealing member are connected to the base member thereof byconnector portions which converge toward said base member.

5. In a Window construction including a sash comprising upper and lowerhorizontal and vertical side rails having inner and outer faces, theimprovement which comprises grooved seats in said inner and outer facesof one of said rails and extending longitudinally thereof and aresilient weather sealing member substantially U-shaped in cross sectionembracing said last mentioned rail substantially from end to end thereofand having its edge portions formed into relatively flat shoe portionsfreely and transversely slidably engaged with said last mentioned railwithin said seats.

6. The combination of elements recited in claim 5 wherein said Ushapedresilient weather sealing member includes a base portion and side wallsand wherein said side walls between said base portion and said shoeportions are bowed outwardly from the adjacent faces of said lastmentioned rail and are located in spaced relation thereto.

7. in a sliding window construction including a frame having header,sill and jambs each of which is provided with spaced flanges formingsash receiving channels and having sash comprising upper and lowerhorizontal and vertical side rails extending into and mounted to slidein said channels, the improvement which comprises a weather sealing andsash centering device carried by at least one of said rails. and movablewith said sash, said device including a resilient member substantiallyU-shapcd in crosssection and extending substantially the full length ofthe sash rail by which it is carried, said resilient member comprising abase portion secured to said last mentioned rail member, leg portionsextending across the faces of said last mentioned rail in spacedrelation thereto and located between said last mentioned rail and saidflanges on said frame, the edge portions of said leg portions being bentback upon themselves to form shoes, seats for said shoes in the adjacentface of said last mentioned rail member of said sash extendingsubstantially the full length of said last mentioned rail and of greaterwidth than the length of said shoe portions to permit movement of thelatter transversely of said last mentioned rail.

8. The combination of elements recited in claim 7 wherein the legportions of device are connected to the base portion thereof byconnector portions which converge toward said base portion.

9. In a window construction including a sash comprising upper and lowerhorizontal and vertical side rails having inner and outer faces, theimprovement which comprises grooved seats in said inner and outer facesof one of said rails and extending longitudinally thereof, a resilientweather sealing member substantially U-shaped in cross section embracingsaid last mentioned rail and having longitudinally extending shoeportions at the edges thereof freely engaged in said seats to slidetransversely thereof, and means attaching said weather sealing member tosaid last mentioned rail remote from said shoe portions.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,918,924 OHeir July 18, 1933 1,922,009 Axe Aug. 8, 1933 1,981,355 HammNov. 20, 1934 2,057,129 Axe Oct. 13, 1936 2,397,090 Dautrick Mar. 26,1946 2,449,361 Axe Sept. 14, 1948 2,541,675 Stiles Feb. 13, 19512,611,156 Toth Sept. 23, 1952

